Somewhere between Soul diva Mary J. Blige and Gospel group Mary Mary lies Shei Atkins, an inspirational Soul singer (and personal fitness trainer!) from Houston, Texas. Shei has released at least 3 full albums (available at the usual on-line spots) and is currently finishing up "Emotional", set to be released later this year. Oh, and she's got a book out, too. "Get A Man, Keep A Man" is available in hard cover, soft cover, and e-book formats. There's even an accompanying song you can download for free. Head to Shei's web site for more info on her and her many projects. "Spread The Love (This Christmas)", apparently from 2009, can be downloaded free through Twiturm. Twiturm? Man, they lost me at Facebook, know what I'm sayin'?

This Baltimore Rap duo are not just queens of the underground, but have scored some above-ground chart action as well. Some of their music has been featured in the HBO series The Wire. WB soundtrack for the series, "Beyond Hamsterdam" includes their hit "When You See Us" (an album only track). And, now, Get Em Mamis are ready to "Party Like The New Year" with this free download available from their web site (on the music page) and at RCRDLBL. This is not your uptown highly polished rap, but rather reflective of the grit of the Baltimore streets. Included in the Get Em Mamis mix, though, is plenty of fun and lots of energy.

Skales (real name Raoul John Njeng-Njeng) is a young Rap artist from Nigeria--not yet 20 years old. Skales' facebook bio says that he's been working on his songwriting and rapping skills since 2000 in the town of Kaduna where he grew up. He would've been about 10 at the time. In spite of the otherwise thin information we have on Skales, we do have his Hip Hop joints for a somewhat more objective measure of his growing legend. And, yep, it turns out Skales is smokin'. Take his free Christmas download, "Thank God It's Christmas". It easily matches Kanye's "Christmas In Harlem" (which I really liked, by the way) and totally smokes Snoop Dogg's "New Year's Eve". Rap ain't my strong suit, you understand, so I leave final evaluation to those who live it and love it. But this one's free, so there's nothing to lose by downloading it.

A tip of the hat to Christmas A Go Go, who have been on fire this week, for finding this 2-sided soul single from Record Kicks. There's an actual vinyl 7" of this one, though very limited--might be sold out already (but check here if you're interested). In the spirit of the season, Record Kicks is giving us free downloads of both sides of this gem through January 6. "Let It Snow" from The Diplomats of Solid Sound features a bit of an Archie Bell and The Drells arrangement to it, while Ray Harris tackles the Godfather of Soul's "Soulful Christmas" straight on. Hot buttered soul courtesy of Record Kicks. You can download "Let It Snow" using the widget here, but, to hear and download "Soulful Christmas", you'll have to visit Record Kicks.

Always nice to find something different, fresh and original. How bout some Hip Hop Gospel with Jazz. Outreach 24/7 is a Washington, DC based ensemble noted for being simultaneously laid back and funky. Here, Outreach 24/7 covers "The Christmas Song", gives the lyrics a religious makeover, and includes a couple of Jazz solos in the break, a little guitar spot from Eric Blake and a whirl on the keyboards from Tree Walters. Sweet! You can hear and download the song free on Reverbnation.

Another MashUp, this one from ...And Sushi! Productions. "The Christmas Carol Of Emmanuel" features contributions from Jars of Clay, Mannheim Steamroller and a whole bunch of other people. Just hit the down arrow and this puppy is yours. Or visit Mashup Citi from whence this comes which, by the way, you should do anyway. Not everything there is to my taste, but there's lots that is--most of it free--and we are in the Christmas season. I dunno, maybe someone out there was looking for a Porky Pig MashUp? Well look no further.

Well, that didn't take long. Kanye West was apparently waiting on the Dipset contribution to his holiday jam when it leaked yesterday. So what are you going to do? The full and final song was due Friday, but "Christmas In Harlem" is out now. This one features drops by Dipset, Pusha T, Big Sean, Cyhi da Prynce, Musiq Soulchild, and Teyana Taylor. You can skip down a few posts to read about and download the leaked version. Collect the whole set. Oh, you can find the final version, well, pretty much everywhere this morning. I got mine here.

Kanye West is a tough act to get a read on. Like the girl with the curl, he seems to alternate between "very, very good" and "horrid". Of late, he'd been in one of his "very good" periods and had promised a track a week until Christmas. Not Christmas tracks, mind you, but still... Then he sort of dropped from site, MIA for weeks. Well, one of Kanye's "track per week" songs leaked onto the net in its unfinished form Wednesday--a Christmas song and a good one. The leaked version of "Christmas In Harlem" features CyHi The Prynce & Teyana Taylor. And Kanye tweets that the full version will drop Friday and feature many more R&B stars. Or, to quote Kanye himself, "Eeeeevrybody on it!!!!" Head over to The Idolator to download the leaked version of "Christmas In Harlem" and stand by for the full joint. It's smooth and soulful, upbeat and happy. It might be the best thing I've ever heard him do.

Yet another version of the Vince Guaraldi classic, this one from Mayer Hawthorneand Stones Throw Records. A note attached to the digital freebie reads:Happy Holidays everyone,All the best Christmas songs were written by Jews, and Chanukah songs suck. This is my favorite Christmas tune, sung over the Vince Guaraldi instrumental.Cheers,Mayer HawthorneAlright, then. Nuff said.

Sure Will Smith got the TV show, the movies, the fame and fortune with all the trimmings. But it was DJ Jazzy Jeff, afterall, who had top billing on those 80s Hip Hop records that launched The Fresh Prince. And while the world kept its eyes on the charismatic Smith, Jazzy Jazz has continued making good music--writing, recording, producing and more. At present, he's working on an album with singer Ayah. But the pair took a break to lay down this soulful holiday track, "Xmas Time", which they're giving away free (along with the instrumental B side) at DJ Jazzy Jeff's web site for a limited time. It sounds like the took the first few notes from Vince Guaraldi's "Christmas Time Is Here" and took off from there. Lots of other free downloads on the site if you poke around a little bit. Head to Ayah's site for a free album sampler. What's Will Smith given you lately?

The FREE List

Here we hope to direct you to some of the Christmas music on the web that can be yours absolutely free. We will not direct you to mp3 or sharity sites, here, but only to artist sites, label sites, and other authorized and unquestionably legal locations.